Small Pond Will be Needing Stocked Soon - 10/14/16 03:18 PM
Hey All, My 1/4 acre pond will be filling up soon and I am still struggling with the "right way" to stock it. I realize that I may not get fish into it this fall, but I want to be ready just in case it fills up sooner than later.
It is a triangular pond with a 100 foot dam and 170 foot sides. Approximately 100 feet of both sides will be VERY steep while the last 70 feet on the shallow end will go from it's bottom depth of 10 feet sharply to 3 feet and taper to zero. This taper will be about 60 foot in length.
I prefer fishing with lures by casting and reeling so I am bias to LMB, crappie, and GSF, I do love to catch CC in this fashion too, but that is a pretty rare occurrence. I know that crappie and GSF are not desirable and will NOT be putting those in the pond. The pond has a 25 acre watershed with no other ponds above it that could lead to other breeds of fish being introduced.
My initial thoughts are BG and LMB. CC would be OK, but I do not want to replace any of the few LMB I can put in with muddy water making CC.
The generic guidelines for my area in Missouri are...
125 BG in Sept to Oct
25 CC in Sept to Oct
25 LMB the next year in May to June
My problem is the low numbers of LMB when the CC are not that desired. Can you all help me balance my preferences while keeping reality in mind? I may be able to talk myself into feeding the pond, while an aeration system is not likely. The pond gets little direct sunlight, only during the few hours around noon. As mentioned above, my pond will have minimal shallows for nesting due to the steep nature of the ravine that has been dammed.
All comments are appreciated,
It is a triangular pond with a 100 foot dam and 170 foot sides. Approximately 100 feet of both sides will be VERY steep while the last 70 feet on the shallow end will go from it's bottom depth of 10 feet sharply to 3 feet and taper to zero. This taper will be about 60 foot in length.
I prefer fishing with lures by casting and reeling so I am bias to LMB, crappie, and GSF, I do love to catch CC in this fashion too, but that is a pretty rare occurrence. I know that crappie and GSF are not desirable and will NOT be putting those in the pond. The pond has a 25 acre watershed with no other ponds above it that could lead to other breeds of fish being introduced.
My initial thoughts are BG and LMB. CC would be OK, but I do not want to replace any of the few LMB I can put in with muddy water making CC.
The generic guidelines for my area in Missouri are...
125 BG in Sept to Oct
25 CC in Sept to Oct
25 LMB the next year in May to June
My problem is the low numbers of LMB when the CC are not that desired. Can you all help me balance my preferences while keeping reality in mind? I may be able to talk myself into feeding the pond, while an aeration system is not likely. The pond gets little direct sunlight, only during the few hours around noon. As mentioned above, my pond will have minimal shallows for nesting due to the steep nature of the ravine that has been dammed.
All comments are appreciated,